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July 3, 2012

Good News Tuesday: Lia Neal, Olympic Swimmer

There were other stories that got more ink last week during the 2012 Olympic Trials in swimming. However, the 'good news' that made me smile occurred in the 100-meter freestyle when 17-year old Lia Neal came in 4th place and earned a place on the 4x100 freestyle relay team that will represent America in the London Olympics.

Lia Neal is only 2nd Black woman in history to earn place on USA Olympic Swim Team. Lia, who is also half Chinese, comes after the first Black woman to make the U.S. Olympic swim team, Maritza Correia, who was a silver medalist in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay in 2004.

“I definitely knew about Maritza Correia being the first one,” Neal said. “I never thought about me being the second one going into the race, but I guess that’s really a cool title to have.”

Neal, who lives in Brooklyn, started taking swimming lessons with friends when she was 6. She showed promise, and a swim mom recommended when she was 8 that she try out for a swim team. She’s been training ever since with Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

This blog will continue to seek out Good News stories about people of African descent and share them with you each Tuesday. We need to tell the positive and upbeat information about OURstory. We can't depend on others to do it for us. Please pass along any Good News story that comes your way. In the case of bloggers ... we want you to join our Good News parade every Tuesday.